Car-coupling



W. B. BRUCE.

GAR COUPLING.

(No Model.)

No. 471,463. Patented Mar. 22, 1892.

ATTORNEY.

WITNESSES:

NITED TATES ATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM B. BRUCE, OF STAUNTON, VIRGINIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,463, dated March22, 1892.

Application filed December 5, 1891. Serial No. 414,158. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM B. BRUCE, of

Staunton, in the county of Augusta and State of Virginia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplings; and I do herebydeclare that the following-is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in carcouplers.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved link oar-couplerexceedingly cheap and durable in construction and composed of a minimumnumber of parts, which is automatic in action, and can be uncoupled fromthe side or top of the car,ther'eby avoiding all danger to the operator,and which when uncoupled is always in position to automatically receiveand couple the link.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and incombinations of parts more fully described hereinafter, and particularlypointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an end view of thecar provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view. Figs. 3 and 4 arelongitudinal Vertical sections showing the coupling bolt or dog.

In the drawings, reference-letter a indicates a portion of the carshown.

I) indicates the hollow coupling-head having the open end. The lowerportion of the mouth of the coupling-head is inclined upwardly andrearwardly to form the upwardlyinclined guiding-face c, and the bottomof the interior of the head is inclined downwardly and rearwardly fromthe upper end of face 0 to-form the downwardly and rearwardly inclinedface d. The top of the draw-head is provided with alongitudinally-extending vertical slot 6. A Vertical swinging bolt orlooking-dog f is longitudinally located in the drawhead so as to swingin said slot. g is a pivot of said bolt extending horizontally throughthe upper part of the draw-head above and forward of the center ofgravity of said bolt, so that the large or weighted end of the bolt isbehind the pivot and constantly tends to drop by gravity with its lowerend resting on the inclined face 01. The rear edge h of said mainportion or'body of the bolt is curved, preferably, from the pivotalpoint of the bolt as a center. The lower edge of said main portion ispreferably inclined, as shown at 'i, so that when in its normal position(see Fig. 8) the end of the link j in entering the draw or coupling headwill strike said inclined edge 1' and will swing the gravitylocking-bolt up and-admit the entrance of the link, and the bolt willthen drop down into the link with its lower end resting on the face d,thereby automatically locking the link and effecting the coupling, theend of the link engaging and pulling against the rear curved faceh,which is so curved that the strain on the link tends to maintain thebolt in its locking position and to throw the end of the link down andthe bolt against face d of the couplinghead. The strain on the bolt isthus distributed on its pivot and on the face cl of the coupling-head.The bolt is provided with an upwardly-extendingreleasingcontrolling-arm0, extending above the coupling-head, and is also provided with theforwardly-extending restoring-arm Z within the coupling-head andarranged to swing between the top and bottom of the front end thereof.

A suitable uncoupling device is provided to operate the bolt, preferablyconsisting of the rock-shaft m, mounted in suitable bearings on andextending transversely across the top of the coupling-head and at one.end provided with a grooved wheel or pulley n and between its endsprovided with a crank or laterally-extending bend 0 over the slot e inthe coupling-head and into which the arm is of the bolt extends, so thatwhen the parts are in their normal position, as shown in Fig. 3, thecrank 0 will be thrown toward the rear end of thecoupling-head and willbe resting ina substantially horizontal position, preferably on stops,such as p, and the arm is of the bolt will be inclined rearwardly andloosely resting within the crank against the end thereof. When the partsare in this position and it is desired to uncouple, the shaft m isrocked and the crank 0 is swung upwardly and forwardly, thereby swingingthe arm is forwardly and lifting the bolt from the link and throwing thearm Z down against the upper end of face 0. The crank 0 is weighted soas to hold the arm down in its forward position and the bolt Z fromthelink, as shown in Fig. 4. The bolt is thus held in unlocked oruncoupled position until the link is withdrawn, and in withdrawing thelink its inner end strikes the restoring-arm Z'and throws it up,restoring the bolt and the crank-shaft to their normal positions, andthe coupler is in position to automatically receive and couple the link.It will thus be seen that withdrawing a link places the parts inposition to antomatically receive and lock the link.

Various means can be employed to operate the crank-shaft from the top orside of the car. The means here shown consist of the horizontal shaft q,journaled to theend of the car'and with handles at the sides thereof andwith the forwardly-extending arm 7, having one end of the chain 3secured thereto, the opposite end of the chain being secured to theperiphery shaft q is rocked the wheel a will be rotated in the directionto rock the shaft m andthrow the crank forwardly to raise the rocking orcoupling-bolt.

15 is a vertical rocking lever mounted atthe top of the car with alaterally-extending toe connected to flexible connections a and thepulley n, so that when said lever is rocked the crank will be moved in adirection to raise the bolt and effect the coupling. Suitable stops areprovided for this lever t.

The many and great advantages of this invention are obvious withoutfurtherennmeration.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure 'by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In acar-coupler, the combination of the.

coupling-headwith the vertical swingingbolt pivoted therein and providedwith the restoring-arm and with an unlocking'or controlling arm,substantially as described.

2. The combination of acoupling-headhaving the downwardly and rearwardlyinclined bottom and thevertical swinging bolt mounted on the pivotinside the head and adapted to reston said bottom when locked and havmga forwardlyeXtend-ing restoring-arm and means forth.

for raising the bolt,substantially as set of wheel a, so that when theside and top 3. In combination, the coupling-head, the gravity swinginglocking-bolt therein having the forwardly-extending restoring-arm, acontrolling-arm extending from said bolt above the coupling-head, therock-shaft on the coupling-head, having the weighted crank in which saidcontrolling-arm loosely rests and bywhich the bolt is operated, saidcrank being of a weight to hold the bolt raised during the uncouplingoperation.

4. The coupling-head having the top slot and the swinging rocking boltmounted in the head at said slot, provided with a restoring andunlocking or controlling arm, one of the arms extending above thecoupling-head, whereby the bolt can be operated, substantially asdescribed.

5. In combination, the coupling-head having the slot in its top, theswinging gravitybolt extending into said slot and mounted on the pivotin thecouplinghead and having the curved rear face, the controlling-armextending above the coupling-head to operate the bolt through the mediumof said arm, and the rockshaft on the coupling-head, having the weightedcrank in which the controlling-arm loosely rests and by which the boltis operated, such crank being of a weight to hold the bolt raised duringthe uncoupling operation.

6. The combination of the coupling-head, the swinging gravity-bolttherein having the curved rear face to be engaged by the link, beingprovided with the restoring-arm and with an unlocking or controllingarm, and the swinging weighted crank to operate the bolt carried by theshaft, the crank being of a weight to hold the bolt raised in thecoupling operation in the manner and for'the purposes set forth.

7. The combination of a coupling-head, a swinging locking-bolt, arocking crank-shaft to operate said bolt mounted on the couplinghead andhaving the wheel, and means at the of the car, connected by flexibleconnections to said wheel to rock the shaft, as described.

In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as my own I afiix my signature inpresence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM B. BRUCE.

' Witnesses:

J OHN A. ALEXANDER, ASHER AYRES.

